Professional Documents
Culture Documents
academic writing
In a recent survey, academic staff
at the University identified the
interrelated skills of
writing
success
What is the
purpose of this
booklet?
Although the nature of universitylevel study has changed in recent
years, not least because of
technology, one element has
remained constant, guaranteeing
success to students with a
mastery of it: writing.
1. Structuring an Essay
2. Parts of Speech
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5. Useful Tips
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8. Further Reading
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Conclusion
1. Structuring
an Essay
Introduction
The introduction is where you provide a routemap for the reader and make clear how your
argument will develop (see opposite). One
effective approach is to outline the main issues
that you seek to address in your essay. It may
also be appropriate to explain how you interpret
the question. In size, the introduction should
generally be no more than 10% of the essay.
Main body
Tip
You should be able to sum up the
basic opinion or argument of your
essay in a couple of lines. It may
help to do this before you start
writing.
Tip
However they are worded, all
assignment titles contain a central
question which has to be answered.
Your main task is to apply what you
know however brilliant your piece
of writing, if it does not answer the
question you may get no marks at
all. (Cottrell 2003: 154)
Essay Checklist
What is an argument?
You may have come across the term
argument in an academic context and felt
confused, not fully understanding its
meaning. Outside of academia, argument
usually refers to a disagreement. It tends to
be an event; a physical occurrence. This may
be the sense of the word that is most familiar
to you, but an academic argument
describes something quite different: it is
essentially a point of view.
1. Essay Title
2. Introduction
3. Main Body
4. Conclusion
5. References
6. Layout
2. Parts of Speech
Each word in a sentence can be
role it plays.
defined by the
re-familiarise yourself
the basic parts of speech.
with
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Noun
Preposition
Pronoun
3. Punctuation and
Grammar
Punctuation shouldnt cause as
much fear as it does. Only about a
dozen marks
need to be
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3.14. Inappropriate or
incorrect use of capital letters
Apart from in peoples names, in titles, and at
the beginning of sentences, capitals (big
letters) should only be used if the word is a
proper noun rather than a common noun, i.e.
if it is the official name or title for something
(see Parts of Speech to clarify your
understanding).
mySkills
mySkills, the Universitys academic
skills website, features advice,
guidance, and interactive resources
on all aspects of study. Developed
as a joint initiative, everything that
is housed within the site has been
authored by expert academic and
support staff from across the
University. It has a large section on
writing, featuring a short film in
which students give their opinions
and advice on essay writing.
Visit mySkills:
www.essex.ac.uk/myskills
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4. Reasoning
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4.4. Generalisations
Beware the generalisation! It is often tempting
to get carried away and apply our idea or
opinion to everything, but always be mindful of
exceptions and counter-arguments.
4.9. Inappropriate or
inadvertent use of metaphor
In writing, we sometimes use metaphors
without realising it. A metaphor is the term for
a literary technique in which something is
described as being something else, for
example, The moon was a ghostly galleon.
Metaphors are mostly deliberate and obvious;
in the example, the metaphor reveals something
more about the moon it describes it, making it
more vivid. However, sometimes poor choice of
vocabulary can lead to an accidental
metaphor
5. Useful Tips
6. Commonly
Confused Words
www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/
differences.htm
Dont ignore the grammar check. When a word
is underlined to indicate that there is
something wrong with the grammar, click on it
and take a moment to read the explanation.
This is a good way to learn about grammar.
Sometimes you can ignore the rule: you will
know whether or not to take the advice once
youve read the description.
7. Writing
Support at Essex
Writing Fellows
mySkills
Student Support
Writing Group
www.chompchomp.com/
www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/welfare/
workshops.shtm
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8. Further
Reading